Please, please, please take a minute to vote for these panels  and comment :
Managing the Corporate Social Media Program : http://cli.gs/smedia
Panelists:

Tony -Frosty- Welch (HP) @frostola
Michael Brito Intel @britopian
Arie Ball Sodexo @arie_ball
Mario Sundar Linkedin @mariosundar
Shashi Bellamkonda Network Solutions @shashib (moderator)

Social Networking is King: Are Websites Dead http://cli.gs/webdead

Panelists :
Ramon Ray : Smallbiztechnology.com : @ramonray
Jay Berkowitz : Tengoldenrules.com : @jayberkowitz
Kelly Harman : z3strategy.com : @z3kelly
Melanie Mitchell : SVP Search Mktg @ Digitas.: @melanieMitchell
Shashi Bellamkonda : Network Solutions : @shashib
and

Lawyers Need Social Media Too! http://cli.gs/smlaw
Raj Malik @rajmalikdc
Raj Malik was on a 2009 SXSW panel “A Hard Sell? Social Media & Your Boss” His bio is at http://2009.sxsw.com/interactive/talks/panels?action=bio&id=205433

Gayle Weiswasser @gweiswasser
Gayle is Vice President at TMG Strategies,where she counsels corporate clients on the use of social media in rapid response, crisis communications, reputation management, and long-term communications strategy.

Brian Winterfeldt @bjw72
Brian Winterfeldt is a partner at Steptoe & Johnson LLP specializing in Intellectual Property, the Internet and New Media; Brian is an active member of the International Trademark Association on its Internet Committee and is involved in ICANN’s Intellectual Property Constituency.

Dallas Lawrence @ DallasLawrence
Dallas Lawrence Chairs the Global Social & Digital Media Practice for Levick Strategic Communications, the nation’s leading crisis communications firm
Thank you and please pass this along to others who may be interested in supporting as well.

Many of us decided to go to this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) interactive conference to learn what’s happening in the world of the web. Whether it’s database applications, marketing tips, how to tips, case studies, or gain some serious insight into what others are doing and what new things can be done to improve our web presence. But while you were probably busy doing some work or listening to some of the speakers, one thing probably remained true: you never got to meet everyone you were hoping to meet. Going to a conference like SXSW allows one to actually meet in person the folks that they are friends with or correspond with online.

But 100 Interviews is here to change all that. Started by three friends in California, 100 Interviews is focused on bringing short video clip conversations to the public with some of the movers and shakers in the web industry. It’s nothing fancy, just a regular conversation between friends asking simple and thought-provoking questions about what’s going on at the event, where the trends are leading people, what success stories they have and how did they get into social media. But before you think that it’s all the “A-list” folks who don’t understand who you are, here’s some folks they have interviewed:

- Lucretia Pruitt - talks about working with WalMart
- Whit Scott - Producer at Seesmic
- Nicole Jordan – handles public relations for the Rubicon Project (an ad publishing network)
- Elliott Ng – Co-founder of Uptake.com
- Ann Bernard – Founder of Yut Media
- Mike Prasad – Founder of Girl Gamer & CEO of Koji BBQ
- Tony Hsieh – President of Zappos
- Pete Cashmore – Founder of Mashable

and many others.

So what’s the point? Each one has a different story to tell about their views on social media. If you’ve ever wanted to be in a room with all the people who “get it” when talking about things like Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, blogs, social bookmarking, public relations, communication, etc., then your best bet would be to start with 100 Interviews. It’s a great way to hear what these specialists have to say without spending hundreds of dollars to register for a conference where they’re going to speak for only 30-45 minutes.

But wait, you’re probably thinking that it’s all videos from SXSW, right? From my conversations with the 100 Interviews crew, they’re on the hunt for more people to talk to them about what they think is going on with social media. So be on the lookout for these folks with their Flip cameras as they’ll be looking to interview more people. It’s all about the conversation.

I met Kevin Reeth CEO of Outright ( Small Business Book keeping software) at the SXSW Small Business brunch organized by Pam O’ Hara and Michelle Riggins of Batch Blue a Small Business CRM Tool company and Network Solutions. About 40 people came together  at South By South West (SXSW) and networked and the feedback from many  attendees is that they made some good contacts.

Our story is that Network Solutions and Outright.com are now partners and Network Solutions will provide free a domain and website for one year when users sign up for Outright.com’s free bookkeeping service. I signed up for the Outright bookkeeping online immediately. Outright is easy to use and you sign-up online. I gave my CPA a surprise by having a Schedule C tax form generated for him when I did my taxes. Outright has a way to connect with Freshbooks ( an invoicing tool that I use) and I recommend it for small business.

Now there is another reason to sign up for Outright.com. We figured if you are starting a business, moonlighting a bit, you need the tools to establish your web presence. So go on right now to Outright.com and sign-up for the free online bookkeeping  and take advantage of the free domain and website offer.

Help me spread the message to all the entrepreneurs out there and I am looking forward to community ideas and feedback on educational workshops that Network Solutions and Outright.com can hold to help people looking to start a business. Cheers!

I used to write for B5 Media a few years ago for about three months at their entrepreneurship blog, Startup Spark, and I had a great experience along with helping the site triple its traffic and double its subscriber base in 90 days.

During that period, blog networks where a really hot topic and many were feeling their way through business models trying different things to see what worked for them. B5 Media was no different and over the last three years tried a variety of business models to scale their business and recently B5 Media went through a consolidation of their blog network of a few hundred blogs to just a few large blog properties.

Jeremy sees this as “going narrow and deep” as opposed to “wide and shallow” which can produce similar revenue results but the overhead and costs can be dramatically more that necessary. Moving to what I have termed a “newspaper section” model B5 Media seems poised to grow and scale up even more in the near future.

Last week I was at South By Southwest (SXSW) where I caught up with Jeremy and he was gracious enough to give us a few minutes of his time to explain B5 Media’s new business model and some lessons learned as an entrepreneur.

Below is the full interview:

On Saturday afternoon, the Network Solutions Social Media Swami, Shashi B, and I spoke as a part of the South By SouthWest conference in beautiful, but rainy and cold Austin, Texas. Shashi and I will be doing a more complete recap when he returns from Austin. He is still there as the conference winds down.

First in regards to the conference, I want to say my wife, Rebecca (check her contemporary furniture line at www.17thandriggs.com) and I had a great time at SXSW and we met so many fantastic people over the weekend. It was tough leaving Sunday as the conference was just getting into high gear, but hey what can you do work was calling. We are still bummed we did not get to hit a Tex-Mex place to eat when we were there. Every place had such a long line. Guess we just have to hit a Chi-Chi’s now….HA! Too bad they are all closed.

Anyway, on Saturday we had a great session titled “A Hard Sell? Social Media & Your Boss. The audience was super engaged and we had a lively Q&A session. It was a standing and sitting room only crowd that turned out. Thanks to Steve Fisher for the warm introduction by the way at the beginning of Shashi and my talk. And yes, Steve that was the Beastie Boys’ Sabotoge (check the great video) blasting from the next conference room during the Q&A.

Also we missed you Jill Foster at the conference. The Network Solutions contingent was not complete without you.

Anyhow as I said more of a recap later, but I promised that I would make a set of social media guidelines available to attendees and others as the guidelines were part of the discussion on Saturday. As we said at SXSW, if you are thinking of launching a social media initiative, Social Media Guidelines of some kind are a good way to a) get legal departments to buy into embracing social media, b) get everyone in the company on the same page as to some best practices and c) make people aware that failure to meet the guidelines can result in loss of a job and exposing the company to liability so compliance is mandatory. These guidelines along with the processes that our entire legal department have implemented and use to support Network Solutions social media efforts have really been helpful. All of the legal folks at Network Solutions have contributed to the success thus far of our social media efforts.

Now I will make my standard disclaimer. These guidelines do not constitute legal guidance. They are solely for informational purposes. Each company is different so consult legal counsel in preparing your company’s guidelines.

Also here are is a great link that describes lawsuits that deal with social media – a few of which were even filed just in the last two months. Also on Sunday, Keith Casey suggested we do a follow-up post that actually narrates some of the thinking behind the guidelines. Look for that over the next few days.

So here they are (feel free to leave your comments after). By the way, these guidelines draw from a variety of sites that discuss this issue as well as other company’s policies beyond Network Solutions.

Employee Social Media & Blogging Guidelines:

Communicating online has potential risks for you and for the company. As a result, every employee needs to understand the risks. The following are some of the risks to communicating online via different social media outlets.

Unauthorized or inappropriate commentary or posts online can:

• Get the Company, and you, in legal trouble with the U.S. and other government agencies, other companies, customers or the general public.
• Diminish the Company’s brand name by creating negative publicity for The Company, owners and partners as well as yourself or your team.
• Cause damage to The Company by releasing non-public information or proprietary information.
• Cost us the ability to get patents or undermine our competitive advantage.
• Cost you your job at the Company.

Most of these risks can be avoided by just being careful and responsible and using common sense and sound judgment. Here is a summary of the important rules to follow to avoid getting in trouble when blogging or engaging in other forms of online communication activities. Violation of any applicable company policy may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment.

Important rules to follow when blogging:

1. Do not disclose or speculate on non-public financial or operational information. The legal consequences could be swift and severe for you and The Company.
2. Do not disclose non-public technical information (for example, code) without approval. The Company could instantly lose its right to protect its intellectual property or proprietary information. If you have any question about whether the information is proprietary, please contact the Legal Department for input prior to posting.
3. Do not disclose personal or private information about other individuals.
4. Do not disclose confidential information, The Company’ or anyone else’s.
5. Do not discuss company policies or work-related legal proceedings or controversies, including communications with The Company attorneys.
6. Do not post negative content or defamatory, libelous, offensive or demeaning material or other types of content that may relate to drugs, alcohol or tobacco, pornography or other offensive or illegal material.
7. Please check the Topic Taboo List below for topics that employees are prohibited from discussing in any online posts.
8. Do not post others’ material, for example photographs, articles, or music, without ensuring they’ve granted appropriate permission to do this.
9. Follow The Company’ Systems Security Policy (see in particular sections on Personal Websites, Blogging and Online Communication) and the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and uphold The Company’ reputation for integrity. In particular, ensure that your comments about companies and products are truthful, accurate, and fair and can be substantiated, and avoid naming specific customers or generally disparaging comments about individuals.
10. If you are writing about a current product that The Company offers, coordinate with the appropriate Product Manager to ensure the accuracy of your content.
11. Always use your real name, not an alias or a made up name in blog posting, comments on blogs or forums especially if you are posting on behalf of The Company.
12. Do not plagiarize material (using content that is already published). Failure to follow this could subject you to termination and legal liability for you and The Company.
13. All posts about company products must be consistent with marketing and advertising laws.
14. All of your posts are subject to the Terms of Use for the particular blog or social networking site so review the Terms of Use prior to posting any content.
15. If you have a question on any of the above or whether you should post information, please contact the Public Relations, Legal Department or the Ethics/Policy Department.

Topic Taboo List

Consistent with the The Company Employee Social Media and Blogging Guidelines, please do not write any content or postings that involve or related to the following items:

• Topics in which The Company is involved in litigation or could in the future: (i.e. policy, customer disputes, etc.)
• Non-public information of any kind about The Company, including, but not limited to, policies and strategy
• Illegal or banned substances and narcotics
• Pornography or other offensive illegal materials
• Defamatory, libelous, offensive or demeaning material
• Private/Personal matters of yourself or others
• Disparaging/threatening comments about or related to anyone
• Personal, sensitive or confidential information of any kind

Also note if your company is publicly traded you will need to make sure all statements/comments/posts etc. comply with SEC rules and regulations that govern such companies. Here is an example of Intel’s Social Media Guidelines. They are really good guidelines. Lastly, for companies that are located outside the U.S. there are likely more regulations that need to be considered depending upon the country the company is in.

Let me know what you think in the comments!

You learn more about the book here and download the first chapter for free.

We talked about the current economic downturn and how many people have been put in a position they never thought they would be in and now have to transform their careers. Jonathan believes this the perfect opportunity to do that regardless of where you are in your life. Check out the full interview below and listen to how his book is very different from a “What Color is Your Parachute”.

For those who don’t know Alex, his blog is Dangerously Awesome and his Philadelphia-based coworking space, Independents Hall or Indy Hall, was one of the first to formalize the coworking space.

The core conversation was an informal roundtable to discuss the current and future approaches to coworking. There are many evolving business models that range from the capitalistic to the altruistic. After the session, we had the opportunity to catch up on how Indy Hall is growing, their graduation labs for coworking attendees.

Here is the full interview:

Since it seems like every social media type in the Western world is currently over in Austin for South by Southwest Interactive, I thought it would be a good time to catch up on a few things. Especially things that don’t involve Twitter, as all the attendees, in their attempts to try and find the best parties, will probably be doing their level best to turn the Twitter server farm into a smoking hole:

* Content Sanity Check: For my part, I haven’t been discussing many small business-specific items of late (my recent entries on networking notwithstanding, though those apply to everyone). I’m going to try to get back into that groove, though I’m looking for ideas, so if you’ve got a question or topic you’d like to see regarding how small business folks can use social media to improve their bottom line, please give it here.

In the meantime, my fellow bloggers have had the small business beat pretty well covered — don’t miss Sian Simon’s series on local search marketing, as well as Steve Fisher’s ongoing 2009 Marketing Plan series, and Jill Foster’s posts over at Women Grow Business.

* Publishing Housekeeping: On the publishing side, looks like this here Solutions Are Power blog has finally taken the plunge and upgraded to WordPress 2.7. I’m getting used to the new interface as we speak. Native photo uploading has also been restored, so you should be seeing more pix in entries. Your blog consumption experience should remain unaffected, though I guess now would also be the time to fix my neglected (actually, nonexistent) blog author profile page.

* “About” Quick Tips: Apropos nothing, it really helps orient your visitors if your blog has an “about this blog,”  “about [this business],” or “about me” entry permalinked from somewhere prominent on your blog, like the nav bar, side bar, or header. That way people, especially people who come to an entry directly from a search result, can see what else you’re about.

* Popularity: Eyeballing the numbers, it looks like my item on 5 Stories of Twittering Gone Bad has been pretty popular over the past 30 days. To that list, I would add: If you’re a reporter, Twittering in court may be okay; however, if you’re a juror, well, that’s a completely different story.

Maybe I should keep updating it as a living entry. Then again, it’d probably do better as a wiki — say, the “Twitter Mistakes wiki.” I’m guessing that’s the only possible way it would scale.

Anyway, if you’ve got other comments or suggestions, for me or for the blog team as a whole, please feel free to leave a comment.

This is the fifth post in the series of blog posts with the session as a theme.

So you are in intense discussions with various people at the company and you are just about to get approval.  You are feeling good.  Its finally going to happen.  Social media paradise is within your grasp that you can just feel it.  Than that guy in the back of the room that doubles as the male equivalent of Debbie Downer says, but Legal will never go for this.

Wrong!

Here is one part of the path to getting legal approval from most legal departments.  Suggest to the lawyers that the company has a set of social media guidelines that everyone from the company must comply when they participate in and engage the community.

These guidelines do not have to be 30 pages long.  They can be as simple as a 1-2 page document that has some Do’s and Don’ts.  Many of the guidelines are frankly common sense approaches that can be used across the company in many forms of public communication and public relations.

The guidelines should at the very least address:

• Defamation (business and personal)
• Intellectual Property (Copyright/Trademark)
• Addressing topics that are in litigation
• Trade Secret Disclosure
• Privacy Issues
• If a pubic company – SEC and disclosure issues

I will be discusing guidelines like this in more detail on Saturday afternoon with Shashi B.  Hope you can join us at SXSW.